The Perfect Fall Cookie

We recently spent a few days in Camarillo, California celebrating my Mother's birthday. I wanted to share a few photos of my sister Joan's home while it is decorated for Fall. We felt like we were staying at a charming Bed and Breakfast. I also wanted to share her recipe for a delicious cookie she baked for us while we were there.....Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies. This is a little table she has set up in her kitchen......the basket there is holding the leftover biscuits we had that morning for breakfast with our sausage gravy and eggs......see what I mean about that Bed and Breakfast?

Pilgrims on the table...........

Beautiful tabletop vignette in the diningroom...........

Some of you will recognize her Jack Vettriano painting of the dancers on the beach........by the way it rained every day we were there........which was fine with us........very cozy

Here's a little proof that Autumn has indeed arrived........even in Southern California......a few falling leaves

And finally here's the cookie recipe.....there were a few left so she sent them with us when we left town........driving in the rain, cups of hot Starbucks coffee in hand......perfect ending to a great trip!

Joan's Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup of vegetable shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

2 Tbsp milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups oatmeal ( not instant)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Blend shortening and sugars together gradually. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and beat well. Add flour, baking soda, salt and beat well. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet placing them about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes depending on your oven and how chewy you want them.

Cool on wire rack or flat surface (they can easily break if not laying flat)

Makes about 42 cookies.

Enjoy!

Just a Little Autumn......For Now

Sure, the calendar says it's Fall......but most of us here in the West are not convinced just yet. With three-digit temperatures still around we're really having to use our imaginations! But it's almost October.....you have to do SOMETHING..... right?......or at least I do. My solution has been to place a very simple arrangement of dried hydrangeas on my dining room table. I used a basket I already had, filled them with the flowers I picked from my father-in-law's yard a few weeks ago and have simply let dry. Now they're just the perfect gorgeous autumn colors.

Here I've used a table runner

Here's the arrangement from a different angle, using no table runner. I tend to like things a little more on the simple side so I'm really liking it on the bare black wood of the table top.

BUT.......

the trouble is I like them both ways. I'll probably go back and forth with it for the rest of the season.......I love to putter around with things in the house. For now I'm loving my little touch of Fall, and since we have to be away on a business trip for the rest of the week, we'll have this to greet us when we get back home on Monday. They'll look as lovely then as they did yesterday when I first placed them there. Even if the weather still isn't cooperating we'll have our own little piece of Autumn when we walk in the door.

Enjoying the little things,

Med School Blue with a Little Bling

Stephanie, my sister's youngest daughter is a second year Med School student . Not only are we proud of her, it's also nice having her close during the school year since the Medical School she chose is here in town.......and as an added bonus Jane comes over from Los Angeles more often to see her baby......meaning more sister time for us.....always a plus! Steph spends her summers between her home in L.A. and humanitarian medical trips to Guatamala....busy girl.

Of course, when fall comes it's back to studying. She already has a crazy cute apartment to come to and while everything is pretty much decorated, she wanted to redo her bedroom this year. When she and Jane arrived a few weeks ago that was top priority on the agenda. She wanted a pretty blue with a little bling to come home to every night.

Christopher and I went over to help with the painting

Now we all know it's in the details...........

.............some bling on the tassels........

......new frame for the Van Gogh.......

......Jane recovered the headboard with sheets from Anna's Linens......

notice the big button tufting.........love that part

............a girl's gotta have a few flowers in her room.......

........Amy.....recognize some of the accessories?..........

.............the curtains were made from the same patterned sheets as the headboard........

The lovely finished product........

We thought it turned out great...........and most importantly......Stephanie loved it! While she has a very nice office set up in her place she said she she does a great deal of her studying curled up on her bed with her laptop and books...........and now with her brand new little kitty to keep her company.

Finally, here's Stephanie........isn't she gonna make a great looking doctor?

From a doting aunt........

I'm linked today with Sally for Blue Monday and Susan for Metamorphasis Monday. Just click on the photos to get your Monday off to a great start!

Shabby Chic?

Is there anything better than a catnap on a warm afternoon? Especially if you can take that nap curled up on your favorite old quilt?

What if that quilt is on the tail-end of shabby? Shall I call it shabby chic?

Yes, I think I will. I've had it for so many years.....didn't pay that much for it even when it was new.....but I've always been in love with it.

White with just a hint of now-faded color. Incredibly soft and tattered.

The years have taken their toll.....but I confess the way I use this little cover has been

the biggest culprit. You see, it's outside a great deal of the time....especially in the cooler months.

Usually you will find it draped across a patio chair or one of my backyard swings.....occasionally spread out on the lawn. I've been known to forget to bring it in (books fall into this category too, but that's another post....more than once I've rushed home in an impending rainstorm to rescue a favorite stack of books. Or been awakened in the wee hours of the morning by the sound of sprinkles on the roof........ only to have to scurry around the backyard in my whatevers gathering valuables in my arms before the downpour!)

 My only excuse is that I use the things I love....and sometimes there are consequences! Sigh.

This summer it has been spread across our bed much of the time. There's a perfectly good white duvet under it that looks ever so stylish on a summer bed.....but it's not quite as old and familiar and cozy. My beloved quilt is shabby chic......that's my story

and I'm sticking with it.

Today I'm linked with Julia at Hooked on Houses

with Kelly at There's No Place Like Home, and with Melissa at The Inspired Room

Christmas in July Part 2

For over twelve years now we've been having "Christmas in July" at our house. It began as just a fun way to pass the time when my youngest son was just a little guy and we wanted ways to keep busy during the long hot summers. Each year is different. There are no set rules. We make up the rules as we go along......sometimes its only for a day or two, sometimes for as much as a week. It all depends on what we all have going on in July. Now that Christopher is college age there's certainly no reason for us all to be looking for things to do to keep busy during the summer......but still we keep on doing this crazy little thing every year. There are a couple of reasons I think. Number one is that it is a deeply ingrained family tradition by now, and number two is that it is still just plain fun. I'm pretty sure Jim and I will still be doing this when we're empty-nesters!

Part of the tradition is to have a few favorite dinners that remind us of Christmas. This morning I made Navy Bean Soup in the Slow Cooker. When everyone got home this evening it was ready to eat with the little mini-cornbread muffins I had baked a couple of weeks ago and put in the freezer. No dessert tonight because I plan to make a couple of our Christmas favorites over the next couple of days .........we're going to have way too much dessert over the weekend! Well, after all, it is Christmas around here.

Slow Cooker Navy Bean Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups of Navy Beans or White Northerns

2 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 onion, diced

2 or 3 medium carrots, diced

3 ribs of celery, diced

2 Bay leaves

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Place beans in crock pot and cover generously with cold water. Add the rest of the ingredients then set the temperature on your slowcooker according to your manufacturers recommendations. I cooked mine most of the day, 6 hours on high. Obviously this meal makes itself and then looks so deliciously cozy when poured into a beautiful soup tureen.

Over the course of the next few days we'll be watching a handful of our favorite Christmas movies. Because of this our meals are going to be eaten in front of the television.......our nod to summer casual even though, like I said, it's Christmas around here. Of course, instead of eating around a roaring fire we'll be cozied up to our fans instead.

My tablescape tonight was set on our familyroom coffee table. I simply used a folded snowflake patterned table runner as my table covering. The white soup tureen was a birthday gift from my Mom .

I love the ladle that matches the tureen.

Basket of cornbread muffins............

I bought these little Christmas themed spreaders at a kitchen shop a few years back. They make perfect utensils for putting butter on hot cornbread muffins.

Sometimes at Christmas I use my "Love, Joy, Peace" tray as kitchen decoration along with the small canisters that make up the set. Here I thought it worked well to put the white ironstone bowls and soup spoons on. Every so often we like to set up our meals in here instead of at the kitchen table. Tonight it worked really well......we had everythng we needed to enjoy our meal while we watched our dvd. And as it turned out......when we sat down to eat it started to rain.....no kidding! Around here that's a big thing! :) We were able to open the windows and enjoy the showers as we ate. Christmas cozy!

As always, enjoying myself............

Tomorrow I'll be sharing a couple of favorite Christmas Season desserts!

I'm participating in Tablescape Thursday today with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. You really need to go over to her lovely blog and see the beautiful tablescapes there.

Also Sandra is hosting Slow Cooking Thursday at her great blog Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Be sure to drop by for some slow cooker recipes for these hot summer days.

Christmas in July, Part I

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for some Christmas fun!

Join Heather at Simply Heather for more Wordless Wednesday Posts

and

drop by The Secret Garden for more posts in Red!

A Little Italian Please

It's Tablescape Thursday again over at Susan's place. Be sure to drop by today and check out all the beautiful tablescapes.

As for my contribution......today we're going Italian and I'll tell you why. This time of year we always go Italian! The first of March is the anniversary of our first date.....and you guessed it..... we went Italian. The restaurant was a little place called Caesar's ....it was a classic in San Diego for many years. This year we had already made plans to celebrate, just the two of us, at a favorite place here in town. However, late Monday, after talking with some of the family we realized that Sunday evening was the only time we could all get together for my father-in-law's 89th birthday. Every birthday we can spend with him is important to all of us now, so obviously we'd have to change our date plans this year. But when? It had to be Tuesday....the next evening. This was an unusually busy week and every other night was already taken. So at the last minute we decided to just celebrate here at home. We were busy all day so I had very little time to prepare.....but sometimes those "hurry up put something together with what you have times" can turn out extra special.

I started out by setting the table in the diningroom using placemats and napkins I had purchased in Old Town San Diego many years ago. The lime green plates are stoneware from a little kitchen shop in Tulsa and the stemware is from an Arby's ( yes I said Arby's) Christmas giveaway in 1994. I used my flatware with the shell pattern because the beach had also played a part in that first date . That's whats so nice about being with someone you love for so many years.......there are all these little things that mean absolutely nothing to anyone but

the two of you.

The stoneware pasta platter and the individual pasta bowls are from Bed Bath and Beyond, made by Himark of Italy.

Next I added a small round of Italian bread and a decanter of extra virgin olive oil for dipping. Nothing goes better with an Italian salad and grated Parmesan cheese.

The soup is Tuscany Basil Tomato......its so simple to make but it

tastes as if it took all day.

The main dish was Angel Hair Spaghetti covered with a Vegetable

Sauce and Italian Sausage. A side of broccoli rounded out the meal.

Our beverage of choice was Strawberry Pomegranate

Italian Soda over crushed ice.

Over the years Jim has gotten used to me taking pictures all the time......

of anything and everything......and now he's having to get used to me taking

pictures of our meals!.....in detail! I guess that's true love.

This is how everything looked when we finally sat down to eat! I think

we were both glad that our plans had changed at the last minute.

We finished off our meal with delicious fresh fruit and lingered at the table

just a little longer than usual. You know you shouldn't rush a first date.

Our original first date ended with a walk on the beach. We didn't have a

beach to walk on this year,but we did do a lot of remembering about this special

little stretch of ocean in La Jolla called "Wind and Sea".

So here's to all the first dates in our future.